mfrishko@bbn.com (Michael Frishkopf) (09/12/89)
I urge anyone with a failed 80meg hard drive out of warranty to pursue
Apple with force.
In Massachusetts (and other states) there is an implied warranty on
all purchases, overriding explicit warrantees, which guarantees
"fitness of purpose" for a "reasonable" length of time. Apple's 90
day warranty is a quarter or less of the competition's, and would be
likely deemed "unreasonable" by a small claims court.
Write a letter to Apple (send it certified) and remind them of your
disappointment and the implied warranty law (if it exists in your state).
Argue that it is becoming well-known that these drives are defective, and
quote other vendor's warranty policies (some hard drives are warranteed up
to five years). If enough people complain directly, Apple may issue
a recall.
Michael
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Michael Frishkopf (mfrishko@bbn.com)
BBN Communications Corporation, Cambridge MA
.!{decvax, wjh12, ihnp4, harvard}!bbn!mfrishkoomh@brunix (Owen M. Hartnett) (09/12/89)
Before hauling Apple off to small claims court, you might want to try your dealer first. Legend has it that many dealers are fixing these drives even out of warranty. I can't guarantee that your dealer will see it this way, but I have heard several reports that some will. It's worth a try, and beats having to spend a day in front of Judge Wapner. -Owen Owen Hartnett Brown University Computer Science omh@cs.brown.edu.CSNET
mcw@iapetus.rice.edu (Michael Wirth) (09/14/89)
I have a Jasmine Direct Drive 80 (circa late '87, old style case) which was apparently zapped by lightning which hit a neighbors house two houses away from me. (I also had two other electronic controllers fail: a water softener and sprinkler controllers). Here are the symptoms: The DD80's power supply and its internal fuse(!) seem OK -- stable +5v and +12v output. When I power up the drive (even with no SCSI cable connected), it goes through its "normal" startup sequence (platter spins up, controller LED blinks on for a second), but then goes into a constant buzzing noise with the head thrashing back and forth. Interesting note: The DD80 has surge suppressors which apparently protected my Mac, but not the DD80 itself. The drive in the DD80 is a Quantum Q280 (hardware rev. 0, firmware rev. 0, ROM rev. 0, as reported by SCSI Evaluator). I called Jasmine yesterday. Here are the options they quoted me: 1) Controller and drive swap, $675, 4 week backlog on Quantum parts (Wow!!!) 2) Upgrade to new 80MB drive, $799, 2-3 weeks (vs. $999 list price) Needless to say, I wasn't too pleased with these options (especially since my current homeowner's insurance deductable is $500). Local Apple dealers, who have the correct controller card (probably because of the common Quantum 80MB problems reported before), won't touch the drive because "the controllers may be different". I suspect that's not the real reason. So here are my requests to the net: 1) Can anyone recommend "reliable" sources for controller diagnosis and replacement on Quantum drives, and for Mac hardware in general? 2) Has anyone had experience with ferro-resonant power conditioners or true (battery-based) UPSs vis-a-vis lightning damage? 3) Has anyone had experience with the specialized insurance carriers who offer lightning, theft, damage, etc. coverage (~$35/$2K/yr)? Please respond directly and I'll summarize for the net.